Sean Strickland has denied a potentially fight-ending rumor about his health ahead of UFC 312
The former middleweight champion will try to win back his belt back from Dricus du Plessis this weekend.
‘DDP’ dethroned the wacky American by split decision when they first fought at UFC 297 in January 2024.
Just two days out from UFC 312, Sean Strickland‘s physical well-being has been questioned by his rival.
Sean Strickland insists he doesn’t have a staph infection
Du Plessis and Strickland met in Sydney, Australia for a pre-fight press conference on Thursday.
The champion made things interesting a few hours prior by making a bold claim about his opponent.
A new picture of Strickland posing shirtless in his UFC fight gear has been circulating online ever since.
It shows the 33-year-old with a blemish on his left arm, which du Plessis believes is a staph infection.
“What? He grew taller and added staph infection to his arsenal. Oh s—,” he captioned his post.
Strickland addressed the rumor about him having a staph infection at the UFC 312 press conference.
“Listen you motherf——, I’m immune to staph,” Strickland shouted.
“You see this f—— mustache? I give staph, I don’t f—— get staph
“Calm the f— down. I don’t get sick. I don’t get f—— injured and I don’t get f—— staph.
“So relax. I’m going to be out there on Sunday and I’m going to come out f—— hard and strong. The hardest and strongest you’ve ever f—— seen. To the f—— death, Dutchman!”
Dricus du Plessis felt invincible during first Sean Strickland fight
Du Plessis had some questions to answer heading into his first fight with Strickland last year.
In 24 pro fights, he has only ever gone to the scorecards on two occasions, when he beat Strickland and when he earned his third UFC win over Brad Tavares.
The expectation heading into UFC 297 was that he would start fast with Strickland having the advantage later on in the fight but ‘Stillknocks’ anticipated this and tried to flip it on its head by staying composed for the first few rounds.
In a recent interview, du Plessis revealed what he learned about himself from fighting Strickland at UFC 297.
“When the fourth round came around, this is the first time in my whole career I go to a fourth round,” he said.
“I felt like I was on a cloud, I felt invincible. I felt fresher than I did before the fight started. I thought, now we can fight and that fourth round was by far my best round.
“I had to prove to the world, to myself, that I can go five rounds and go as hard as I can for five rounds.”